Why Relationships Fail, According To Science

Whether your glass is halfempty or halffull, we all focus on the negatives when were looking for the one, according to a recent study.

When deciding whetherto get into a serious relationship with someone else, people often talk in terms of deal-breakers. It could be an unwanted personality trait,their social status, their beliefs, etc. It turns out people don’t always look for the best in people, at least when it comes toprospective partners. According to psychologists from five universities, people evaluating mate potential tend to focus on relationship deal-breakersthe negative traits of a personas opposed to the positive.

Of course, the affairs of the heart are a very subjective thing. For example, one person might deem impulsivity as a positive trait, while others might see it as a negative. According to the researchers,the top deal-breakers were unattractiveness, unhealthy lifestyle, undesirable personality traits, differing religious beliefs, limited social status,and differing relationship goals.

Their findings showed that people evaluating potential relationships tendto focus more on a person’s negative characteristics than their positive ones. So much so, that a few negative traits could override many positive traits. They additionally found that women place greater emphasis on these deal-breakers in general.

In a statement, Gregory Webster, one of the studys authors from the University of Florida, said: We have a general tendency to attend more closely to negative information than we do to positive information.

Things that can harm are generally more important [to pay attention to] than things that can help you, he added.